Ervin suffers final-round meltdown

ERVIN Chang failed in his bid to bec come the first Malaysian to finish in the t op 10 after 12 years in the Asian Game es men’s individual golf competition.

The 20-year-old, starting the fina al round in joint 10th position, was try ying to improve on Ben Leong’s nint thplace finish at the 2006 Doha Games but a disastrous seven-over 79 saw him slip down the leaderboard to finish 28th on a four-over 292 total in the 86-man competition.

It was certainly disappointing given his promising start in the first round where he fired a 69 to be just one shot off the pace.

“It was actually a good week except for the last day,” said Ervin. “I hit the ball good and was not too bad with the putting but it just diddid nnot click. Now I know what I need to woork on.”

Ashley Lau was the best-placed MMalaysian in the women’s competitiion when she carded a 74, her worse sccore of the week, for one-under 287 tottal to finish 13th out of 42 golfers. “I could have finished higher up if I played better today,” said Ashley. “It was such a great experience to be a part of our first Asian Games.”

Yuka Saso of the Philippines fired a brilliant 66 for 13-under 275 to outscore the men winner Keita Nakajima of Japan by two shots.

The men and women’s team gold also went to Japan and the Philippines.